Vietnam's street food: a feast on every corner
From steaming bowls of pho to crisp banh mi, Vietnam's roadside kitchens serve some of the world's most vibrant food.
To eat in Vietnam is to eat on the street, perched on a low plastic stool at a bustling roadside stall, where some of the most vibrant and refined food in the world emerges from tiny, specialised kitchens, often perfected over generations.
The dishes are a study in balance — the Vietnamese love of contrasting flavours and textures, of fresh herbs and bright acidity, of hot and cool, soft and crisp. There is pho, the fragrant noodle soup simmered for hours and finished with a handful of herbs; banh mi, the crackling baguette, a legacy of French colonialism, stuffed with pâté, pickles and fresh coriander; and bun cha, grilled pork with noodles and herbs.
Each region and city has its specialities. In Hanoi, the food leans savoury and subtle; in the former imperial city of Hue, it is spicier and more royal; in Ho Chi Minh City and the south, it is sweeter and richer.
Eating well in Vietnam requires only curiosity and a willingness to sit where the locals sit. The best meals are often the cheapest, served from a single-dish stall where the cook has made the same thing for decades.
Fresh, balanced, inexpensive and endlessly varied, Vietnamese street food is one of the great pleasures of travel in Asia, a cuisine best discovered one plastic stool and one steaming bowl at a time.